Comments from JRed

I seem to remember someone from the Proteus Network (later renamed Satellite Theater Network) being named Kevin. There was another guy, too. Maybe his name was Tim? I was a projectionist at the theater during that time. The Youtube video in the post above was shot and posted by me. We had the big Hughes JVC projector and eventually got a Barco as well. I think at one time we had 2 Barcos plus the JCV/Hughes. I have a different video of a live UA telecast about their 401K program.

Auditorium #5 is the D150 screen (not sure if it still has that curve after the RPX retrofit). It is showing the Justin Beeber concert movie. The large screen will now always be identified by the “RPX” tag.

Today the Continental will have a soft opening of the big screen as an “RPX” auditorium, Regal’s proprietary name for “movies dun rite”. First and foremost this means you will be paying more for any ticket to the #5 auditorium.

New features include leather seating to enhance your moviegoing enjoyment, replacing the screen with “something larger”, all QSC amps (which it already had as do most auditoriums in the entire Denver metro area) and a 102 speaker system (please note that this won’t be 102 actual speakers, they are counting the individual drivers in each speaker. So a single 3-way speaker would count as 3 speakers with Regal’s deceptive math).

No word yet on if they are still showing film or if they put digital in. Screen illumination has always been an issue at this theater so I would think they’d have to put in something really nice for a new, bigger screen. No word if the new screen will retain the D150 curve.

As a landmark and example of 1920’s theater architecture, the Mayan is beautiful and amazing. As a place to see a movie, it absolutely blows whales. I get a better viewing experience on my laptop. The seats are cramped even if you’re a child, I’m typing on a bigger screen right now, and the craptastic sound system and slap echo make watching anything a painful experience. The projection is sloppy… the films are consistently dirty and scratchy and exactly what I don’t want to pay for in a theater experience.

And don’t even get me started on those two balcony conversion iPhone-sized screens upstairs.

It opened as Kipling Place 6, actually. It was built by General Cinemas during the great cinderblock fetish of the late 70’s/early 80’s I believe. Cinderblocks are everywhere in this theater, the lobby walls, the auditorium walls, and even holding up the “sound rack” for auditorium #3’s sound equipment. Mann Theatres bought the place and it continues to run as a first run multiplex until it was purchased by Movie One right before the Bowles Crossing 12 theater opened down the street. Then it was sold to Silver Cinemas and now it is Elvis.

ANYWAY, as I was typing; Bowles Crossing 12 has 11 film projectors and 1 digital video projector which they usually reserve for 3D movies. In fact, as of this writing, they have yet to show a 2D movie in the auditorium that was converted for digital video.

Bowles Crossing 12 was built by Mann Theatres and opened in 1994 if memory serves. It featured digital sound on every screen (mostly DTS) and curtain calls in every auditorium before every show. It was also the first Colorado theater to feature THX in every single auditorium. In 2000 most of the Colorado Mann theaters were purchased by Colorado Cinema Holdings Limited Liability Corporation. Stadium seating was added to each auditorium. A couple of years ago Kerasotes purchased these same Colorado theaters. The curtains are never ever used any more because they are very difficult to maintain properly.

kvldfjlkahgjhjghijigfjhigfjh1digital projection screen that is usually reserved for 3D movies. As of this writing they have uet to run a 2D movie

The Greenwood Plaza 12 was/is a pretty nice theater, but unfortunately as it was being built, a last-minute decision was made by someone at corporate to put in curved screens. This required relocating the auditorium exit doors and significantly reduced the overall screen size. Still , this was a great booth to work in as we got to test lots of new technologies (first in the state with SDDS, Interfilm, etc). 70mm capability exists (or at least used to) in auditoriums 4, 6 and 9.

As of today the marquee is still there, along with “Closed for the season” posted on it. A bit of graffiti also welcomes viewers of the sign. The buildings are getting awfully close to it but yet it still stands. Interesting.

I had the opportunity to see how the big screen at the Continental is coming along last night.

First, the booth: The booth has been raised about 8 feet or so and is now very small in a tiny little room up a narrow flight of stairs with barely enough room for the projector, platter and sound rack. The old booth is still there, partially walled off to make room for the new booth and is now unused. The toilet is still in the old booth with the small privacy curtain which everyone loves. The old CP500 has been replaced with a CP650. The Norelco projector sits in the back room (which would have been the left booth), any hope of ever running 70mm in that house again is gone forever. The UA bar code automation has been replaced with a Strong CNA-150. The assistant manager was saying how he was glad to see the bar code automation go away because it would always shut down when the credits start. I wanted to tell him this was likely because it is generally a good idea to put a LIGHTS MID cue at the start of the credits instead of a SHOW END cue, but hey… that’s just me. No other equipment has changed… same old cassette deck from the single screen days is on top of the sound rack and the old Dolby mag pre-amp is still in there as well for some odd reason. The little room the booth is in now has a linoleum floor, just like the booth for the four new screens. Fortunately it does not contain Strong equipment like the four new screens do. Projector is still the 35mm Christie. They may have even went all out and changed the belts. Spare no expense!

The auditorium: The seats have been tiered off into four sections and the aisles are still on the side. As one would imagine, the incline is not tremendously steep. The seats are now your typical Regal-style seats with the moveable cupholder armrests, etc. They did a surprisingly decent job with the conversion, much better than I thought they’d do. However now it looks just like all other Regal auditoriums, only bigger. Not much uniqueness left to it. The curved screen is still there, but they got new curtains which they will rarely use. Supposedly the curtain motor is new as well (the old curtains really squeaked). It’ll be interesting to hear how this room sounds once the re-EQ is complete. They said they plan to use the curtains from time to time.

I was the projectionist at the Continental when it re-opened as a 6-plex, on loan from Greenwood Plaza 12. I built up the first movie to show during the re-openingâ€¦ â€œEraserâ€ (assembled at Greenwood). I have some video from those days taken from my camcorder and some pics as well. THX was in auditoriums 1 and 6 only. They never bothered to renew the license so nothing is THX any more. The large screen was not capable of being certified for THX, didnâ€™t meet the requirements. There is a silver screen in new a new auditorium, number 8 I believe, for digital 3D showings eventually. Donâ€™t get any hopes up for 70mm since it is no longer capable of happening. Even if they did manage to install a Century JJ projector (the Norelco is obsolete and quite useless), the staff of this theater simply could not handle the task or responsibility of running 70mm. They canâ€™t even handle 35mm without scratching the prints and getting them noticeably dirty. The Continental is just a typical multiplex run in the same fashion as others, unfortunately.